A bedmaking company has been fined $250,000 after one of their workers was shot in the heart with a nail gun.
In 2019, a Sleepwell worker went to free a hose that connected his nail gun to the air supply line when the gun recoiled, firing a nail into another worker walking behind him.
The nail lodged in the worker's heart and had to be surgically removed.
WorkSafe's area manager Danielle Henry says the man is lucky to be alive.
"His ordeal could have been avoided if the company had adequately identified the risks of using nail guns and implemented clearly marked exclusion zones - areas out of bounds to other workers," Henry says.
"There was a real risk that other workers could come into contact with an operator's nail gun, and that is exactly what happened, so clear exclusion zones should have been marked out around work-stations where nail guns were in use".
WorkSafe's investigation found a number of other issues at the factory - including failing to regularly check the nail guns and failing to adequately train workers.
Sleepwell appeared in the Manukau District Court on Monday, where it received a $250,000 fine and was ordered to pay $15,000 to the victim who was unable to work for three months afterwards.
